Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has been sworn in as the country’s new president, five years after he ousted a government chosen by the people. “It’s essentially a continuation of the old guard,” Greg Kelley of Unknown Nations says.

“Nobody recognized this election as legitimate. Most of the opposition groups were excluded from it. There was no voting in huge swaths of the country because of the ongoing civil war.”

Min Aung Hlaing, Senior General of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, in Tianjin, China on August 31, 2025.
(Prime Minister’s Office (GODL-India), GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fighting shows no signs of slowing as the conflict continues. “The military only [controls] about half of the country,” Kelley says.

“The other half is [controlled by] the various rebel groups that banded together in their common goal of fighting against the military… leading to further displacement of people and deaths,” he continues.

“The hope is that the people can take back their country, so there could be a legitimate election that is a voice of all the people, instead of just people who are in power.”

Christians respond

Myanmar has been engulfed in tragedy since the 2021 military coup. “Over three and a half million people have been displaced [and] nearly 10,000 people have been killed,” Kelley says.

Yet hope remains. “Churches [and] Christians are targeted, but the Gospel is moving forward in Myanmar,” Kelley says.

“There are amazingly brave and courageous men and women of faith who are sharing the Gospel in the midst of this civil war.”

Myanmar is still largely unreached — only about five percent of the population follows Christ, and millions have never heard the Good News. But local believers are taking action.

With help from Unknown Nations, “Burmese are multiplying themselves; they’re raising up healthy disciples,” Kelley says.

How to help

Please pray for peace in Myanmar. Ask the Lord to protect His followers.

“Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers among the Burmese people and help them to understand the truth of Christianity, the love that Jesus represents,” Kelley requests.

Support Unknown Nations’ work among unreached people groups here.

Header image is a representative stock photo depicting the flag of Myanmar. 

“But then on the other side: you’re seeing, really, brother against brother, ethnicity against ethnicity, tribe against tribe – both of whom are calling themselves Christians but are not living it. And so this has to get worked out,” he says. 

Wesley recently returned from Juba, South Sudan, where his team and ministry partners held a theological training on persecution and discipleship. 

“I heard some of the leaders from South Sudan speaking at our conference and basically calling out the South to say, ‘If you name the name of Christ, then you cannot kill your brother,’” he says. 

Wesley notes there were several testimonies of people impacted by the teaching, including a high ranking army official:

“[He] heard the teaching and wants to take [it] to the government and show them that what they’re doing is the opposite of what they should be doing.”

Wesley says a transformative idea for warring believers is an understanding that our identity should be in Christ. 

“And where the world’s culture has infiltrated the church, it needs to go out,” Wesley exhorts. 

Instead, we need to usher in Christ’s kingdom, one that works together in unity. 

As lessons from this training continue to take root, please pray that people will continue to respond to the messages they heard, and pray for an end to the growing violence. 

“My confidence is that there is a number of key leaders that God is raising up in that land right now, in the midst of it, that are going to be influential to benefit both the church and society no matter what’s happening in the culture or the country,” Wesley says. 

Sudanese combatant with G3 rifle, courtesy of Steve Evans via Wikimedia Commons. Header image courtesy of Ahmed Abubakar via Pexels.

Raina Miller with Mission India says, “His parents were fighting at home all the time. His dad was really busy with work, and his mom was busy performing rituals to their gods because she was very superstitious. His parents had differing belief systems and it caused a lot of arguments between them.”

A friend had invited Akil to the 10-Day Bible Club run by Mission India. What started as a simple invitation turned into something life-changing.

“He was just surrounded by love and joy like he hadn’t experienced before — and stability that he definitely didn’t have at home,” says Miller. “As he was at the Bible Club each day, he felt relaxed in a way that he didn’t feel at home.”

Akil played games with other kids, sang songs, and most importantly, heard about Jesus for the first time.

Miller says, “He noticed that the Bible stories he was hearing contradicted what his parents believed, but he believed in them, and he believed in Jesus. He was moved and received Jesus as his Savior!”

Akil, a boy who first learned about Jesus at a 10-Day Children’s Bible Club. (Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Akil returned home transformed and he began sharing the Bible stories he learned with his family. His mother, moved by the change in her son, left behind her superstitious practices. By God’s grace, there is more peace now in Akil’s home.

While Akil’s parents haven’t yet made decisions to follow Jesus, they are open and curious — and continuing to explore the Gospel because of their son’s testimony.

Miller says stories like Akil’s aren’t uncommon. “We see kids all the time leading others to Christ…. Kids come to a Bible Club for the first day and love it so much that they want to bring their brothers and sisters and friends the next day. So the impact just grows from there.”

With 356 million children under the age of 15, India holds one of the greatest opportunities to reach the next generation for Jesus.

This Easter, Mission India is inviting believers to get involved in a simple but powerful way.

Through April 21, donations to the 10-Day Children’s Bible Clubs are being matched dollar for dollar, up to $350,000. That means every $1 sends two children like Akil to a Bible Club where they’ll hear about Jesus — and potentially change their families from the inside out.

“I don’t know what better Easter gift you could give than introducing a child to Jesus,” says Miller.

Donate to Mission India’s Easter Matching Challenge!

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

Pierre Houssney with Horizons International in Lebanon says, “It’s not clear whether a truce would be positive or negative because it’s just possible that when Israel is done with what it’s doing in Gaza, it could turn more of its resources toward the Lebanon front.”

Hezbollah terrorists, for their part, continue to engage in war crimes as they attack Israel.

“We’ve had Hezbollah rockets fired from next to homes of church members,” says Houssney. “They’re having their neighborhoods directly under threat because Hezbollah is using those areas to launch missiles into Israel. So it’s caused a lot of fear.”

Throughout Lebanon, Horizons staff members meet with people in their homes to share the Gospel and pray together.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Horizons International)

Meanwhile, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah at Lebanon’s southern border caused 58 Lebanese schools and education centers to close by spring. Will any of those schools reopen in the fall? It doesn’t seem likely, and 20,000 students could be impacted.

In a country the size of Lebanon, everyone feels the conflict’s impact. Houssney says, “Many people don’t realize how small Lebanon is. I mean, it’s about 140 miles from north to south. So that southern area of Lebanon where Tyre is, it’s not that far from the southern border to Israel.”

Horizons International works with the Lebanese Church to spread Gospel hope and reach Muslims for Christ. These local churches are serving thousands of people displaced from the southern border.

Pray with believers in Lebanon and throughout the region for peace. Ask God to lead many Lebanese people, including Hezbollah, to put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Houssney encourages, “I think we need to be a support to the brothers and sisters in Christ that are on all sides of these borders as things are heating up politically and as violence is increasing.”

Find ways to come alongside the Lebanese Church with Horizons International.

Header photo of Israel-Lebanon border. (Photo courtesy of Eternalsleeper | Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9439853)

Iran’s role on the world stage today has had ominous overtones. Lana Silk with Transform Iran acknowledges, “Iran has made it very clear their agenda is to wipe out Israel.”

But a closer look shows a growing rift between the government of Iran and the people of Iran. Young people have called for the end to the regime which their parents and grandparents once welcomed into power. 

Baptizing an Iranian believer.
(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

“It will take something much bigger than what we’re seeing now to dethrone that regime,” Silk says.

But Silk believes that Iran will one day be a free country, and that it will happen within our lifetimes. The Church must be ready. 

“That (one-day freedom of Iran) is what drives us every day as a ministry,” she says. “In an environment in which people are silenced and controlled, they are fighting and looking for water in a desert, if you will. We know that Jesus is the source of that life that they’re looking for — and they’re finding Him. 

“But come a day when Iran is open and every version of untruth will be available to them freely, then we have a different fight on our hands.”

It will be the spiritual battle of the West, where Silk says there is “a buffet of life’s choices and options, and people can pick and choose and pick it up and drop it as they want.”

There are 88 million people in Iran, and Transform Iran’s mission is to spread the gospel to each one of them — literate, illiterate, Persian Farsi speaking, ethnic minorities in their own languages, everyone. 

Your prayers matter in this massive opportunity. Ask God to lead Iranians to Jesus when they look for answers. Pray for wisdom, effectiveness, equipping, resources and protection for ministries like Transform Iran and others who are spreading the gospel in the nation. 

“Let’s pray that God’s will happens,” Silk says. “We don’t know how things are going to play out. But God is sovereign. The Word tells us that He steers the hearts of kings like the course of water, like rivers.”

Learn more about the ministries of Transform Iran here.

Header photo is a representative stock image taken in Tehran, Iran, courtesy of Omid Mozzafari/Unsplash.

“We’re seeing renewed fighting in some countries like Syria and completely new conflicts erupting in other places,” says Hunter Williamson with Thimar-LSESD.

Photo courtesy of Thimar-LSESD via Facebook

“When the war between Hamas and Israel began in October, some of the armed groups here in Lebanon, who are allied with Hamas, began attacking Israeli positions, which has created a conflict here which has displaced about 83,000 people.”

Israel has also returned fire into Lebanon. In the middle of these tensions, LSESD seeks to provide relief and development aid as well as education and church discipleship. (More on that here.)

Today, the needs are enormous.

“The country has really been suffering under a severe economic crisis since 2019. It’s been hosting a tremendously large refugee population of Syrians. It also hosts a few 100,000 Palestinians as well,” says Williamson.

“Some of the latest figures show more than 80% of the population being cast into poverty.”

Pray for Thimar-LSESD as they provide aid for displaced persons in Lebanon, and consider supporting this critical ministry.

“Every donation, every dollar helps tremendously,” says Williamson.

Header photo courtesy of LSESD.

Mission Aviation Fellowship International has a base in Juba, South Sudan where they fly to isolated and remote regions of the country with aid, emergency services, and Gospel hope.

With the growing Sudanese refugee crisis, MAF South Sudan has partnered with local non-government organizations and ministries to get emergency aid to the refugee camps in South Sudan.

Vaughan Woodward, MAF’s director of global disaster response, says, “With the fighting still continuing and people still continuing to cross the borders there, we’re calling it a slow burn. It’s continuous and it’s slowly ramping up, and there is concern that it could turn into a larger humanitarian crisis than what it is already.”

On Monday 17 July a MAF plane took off from Juba International Airport with almost a ton of mosquito nets, blankets, and soap for international NGO Cordaid. (Photo, caption courtesy of MAF)

Some people fleeing Sudan are also refugee returnees caught in an endless cycle of displacement.

“There’s a lot of South Sudanese who have, in the past, migrated into Sudan,” says Woodward. “Now that the fighting has started, those migrants are actually returning into South Sudan. Many of them have had to leave in a hurry and so they don’t have many possessions with them.

“Once they crossed the borders, they are gathering in some camps that have been set up by the UN and other agencies. So we’re just seeing an increased movement of displaced people who are lacking resources and needing assistance.”

MAF pilots in South Sudan are flying emergency aid to camps for refugees from Sudan, compelled by Christ’s compassion.

“When we look at the ministry of Jesus Christ, He didn’t just preach the Word. He met people’s needs, healed the sick, and He fed the hungry wherever He went. So that’s a model that MAF likes to use as well.

“We help to meet the needs of people because once people have their physical needs met, they may be in a position to have their spiritual needs attended to.”

MAF flew a team from Dutch NGO Cordaid to Renk and spent three hours on the ground with them as they visited the transit camp where are thousand people are arriving every day. (Photo, caption courtesy of MAF)

Join them in prayer for peace in Sudan. Pray for refugees fleeing Sudan to know the perfect comfort of Jesus Christ.

Woodward also asks for prayer for MAF pilots and staff. “Our crew who fly into these situations where they often can see suffering,…it can certainly be draining when you realize that the needs are far in excess of what any one organization can meet.”

You can help have an impact by supporting MAF South Sudan here!

Header photo depicts MSF cargo (medicine) being flown from Juba to help the response to the refugee crisis in the north of South Sudan. (Photo, caption courtesy of MAF)

Many people remain cut off from essential humanitarian assistance due to the conflict. Sudan’s war is approaching its third month with no end in sight. See our coverage here.

Last week, the United Nations revised its earlier estimate of one million Sudanese refugees based on continuing violence. Over two million people are displaced within the country, and “refugees from Sudan have been going in every direction,” says Arne*.

Arne oversees unfoldingWord’s translation work in the region. unfoldingWord equips local church planters to do Bible translation in minority languages. More about that here.

“The church network in Chad is reaching out, trying to meet the needs of the refugees as they come in,” Arne says.

Believers make Christ’s love tangible as they meet basic needs like food and shelter. “It is a nasty situation as [Sudanese people] consider this thing called Islam that they thought they [were] part of,” Arne explains.

“This (conflict) creates an opportunity for the Gospel because people are suffering at the hands of Muslims and fellow Arabs.”

Learn more about unfoldingWord’s work in Sudan here.

(Graphic courtesy of unfoldingWord)

“Translation work, per se, is hindered a bit,” Arne says.

“[One] team managed to complete the work they intended to do in Khartoum; they spent a month or so working in the Nuba Mountains.”

The team was stuck in Khartoum when the violence began in mid-April but managed to escape. Now, “all the progress we’re making is inside South Sudan,” Arne says.

Pray for an immediate end to the war in Sudan. “The big wave of refugees is causing stress on the surrounding [countries]. Many came into South Sudan, and that’s creating pressure,” Arne says.

Pray believers can be bold and share God’s truth as they help people in need. “Pray for open hearts as they present the Gospel. It’s always a spiritual battle,” Arne says.

*Pseudonym

Header image courtesy of…

Krista Biesiadecki, communications manager of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) says, “In many of these regions, there’s a lot of hostility. Even in the city of Malakal…there were 13 people killed in a conflict in the United Nations refugee camp. Orphanages are being evacuated and children displaced.”

(Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)

For refugee children, going from fighting in their home country to fighting in the refugee camp is frightening.

CEF has been serving refugee camps in South Sudan since 2016. Their staff members are seeking to reach this new wave of Sudanese refugees and children pouring into South Sudan from the northern border. However, some of South Sudan’s northern cities are difficult and even dangerous to get into.

Yet, Francis Candiga, national director of CEF South Sudan shares, “We really feel a burden to share the Gospel with the boys and girls who have a dire need of relief and comfort from the word of God.”

It’s a critical opportunity for refugee kids from Sudan to find Christ’s peace and hope! CEF needs prayer and support to make it happen.

Biesiadecki says, “We can definitely be praying for our CEF staff, for physical protection over them as they travel into those areas and minister to those children in refugee camps – new ones that are forming and then existing ones as well.

“Then, [be] praying for refugee families, especially the children, that they would have an opportunity to hear the Good News while they are in those camps.

“And then [pray] that the Lord would provide finances as well for our staff to be able to travel to expand the ministry in some of those northern areas.”

Click here to learn more about CEF! You can also give to CEF’s ministry here.

Header photo courtesy of Randy Fath/Unsplash.

In case you missed it, military and paramilitary forces are at war. See our coverage here. Mediators from the United States and Saudi Arabia called it quits last week after multiple failed ceasefires.

At least 2,000 people have died in the last ten weeks, and more than 2.5 million Sudanese are on the run. Guerrilla Rapid Support Forces (RSF) gunmen routinely open fire on crowds of people as they flee, the United Nations reports.

“We don’t know the extent of what is happening, but we know civilians are being killed,” says Arne*, a believer overseeing Bible translation work in the region for unfoldingWord.

“There’s genocide taking place in Darfur right now.”

The war brought unfoldingWord’s Sudanese Arabic project to a grinding halt in mid-April. “We don’t have much work going on inside Sudan; it’s impassable,” Arne says.

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

Five team members were trapped in Khartoum when the fighting began. Translators are in a safe location now, but “it’s very difficult and stressful for these men [to think] about what may be going on with their families,” Arne says.

“Several [men] on the Sudanese Arabic team have family in Darfur, which has been especially disconcerting for them.”

Two team members “are young men, and they have young families; a wife and one or two children,” Arne says.

“Neither one of them knows where the families are, what condition they’re in, or if anything has happened to them.”

Pray believers can be reunited with their families soon. Pray for an immediate end to the war in Sudan. “We’re asking [God to] settle the situation so we can continue to work in this region,” Arne says.

“God is the one who can intervene. He raises up nations, and He puts them down.”

Header and story images courtesy of unfoldingWord.